Democratic Party leaders must take on Bernie Sanders on Israel

By Jack Rosen

|NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Nov 14, 2017 | 5:11 PM

Wrong on Israel (JB NICHOLAS/JB NICHOLAS for the NY Daily New)

Sen. Bernie Sanders has for too long been allowed to attack Israel unchecked. His constant attacks are disproportionate and risk damaging the Democratic Party's image in the U.S. and abroad. Sanders' recent claim that the U.S. was "complicit" in Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank was a case in point.

I did not hear one Democratic voice publically challenge this point of view. When will Israel's supporters within the Party stand up against Sanders and stand up for Israel? Will the new cohort of Democrats elected to office this week stand up for Israel?

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Sanders' obsession with bashing Israel is biased, myopic and imbalanced. Is it reasonable to single out Israel while turning a relative blind eye to the terror and hatred tearing through every other Middle Eastern country? Is it reasonable to dedicate so much time and energy to highlighting Israel's flaws when there are so many countries around the world facing complex challenges? This hypocrisy needs to be highlighted.

It goes without saying that Sanders plays a leading role amongst the left-leaning progressives within the Democratic Party, and he influences a significant voting bloc. We all witnessed the way he was able to grow his support during his bid to be the Democratic presidential nominee. Despite losing the nomination to Hillary Clinton, the progressive movement he leads gained momentum during the election. This means that Sanders is able to get real traction on the issues that matter to him, one of which is Israel.

Sanders' opinions on Israel are damaging and consistent. He seems to regularly put out anti-Israel material, have high-profile meetings with anti-Israel campaigners and make sweeping and negative statements aimed at the Jewish state. This fall, following headlines about Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, he met with Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist visiting America who has been arrested and prosecuted by Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials. At J-Street in the spring, he condemned "Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian territories" as being "contrary to fundamental American values."

Sanders' actions mean that the anti-Israel argument is now becoming more legitimate. True allies of Israel cannot just sit by without responding, especially given Sanders' outsized role within the Democratic Party. While he is free to have his own views, if the party wants to be seen as pro-Israel, then elected officials need to stand up and counter these opinions head on.

By staying silent, Democrats are feeding the perception that the Democratic Party is increasingly becoming an anti-Israel party.

This is of course not the case. I have spoken to decision makers and privately, they are very critical of Sanders. But talking privately is no longer enough. If you are pro-Israel then you need to defend her publically.

We do not want to mimic center-left parties in Europe where, for example, the once staunchly pro-Israel U.K. Labour Party is now led by a man who once extended an open-armed invitation to Hezbollah and Hamas to visit Parliament.

Changes are afoot within the Democratic Party, with new governors coming into power in New Jersey and Virginia, and a string of state legislative election victories last week. The resurgence of the Democrats on a local level, on the heels of four successive defeats in special congressional elections during the Trump administration's first year in office, could place President Trump under considerable pressure.

What is happening is a slow anti-Israel erosion within some quarters of the Democratic Party. There are prominent voices that could turn the tide, but they need to mobilize before more damage is done. They could move the barometer on Israel and combat Sanders with one statement, but they don't. They are silent when Israel and the Democratic Party need them most.